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The other day, I wrote about how the Kumamoto City Council took steps to tighten, rather than relax, restrictions that make balancing childrearing and work difficult for female members:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1798732196866871
This YouTube video was recorded from a monitor that displayed, with sound, the proceedings of a committee meeting at which the new policy was discussed. Two points are worth noting: (1) No political constituency that was formally allowed to participate in the meeting, not even the left-wing Communist Party, objected to the crack down; (2) When Ms. Ogata, seated with her back to the camera raised her hand requesting to speak, no one voiced approval so she was not allowed to speak. She attended the meeting as an observer so she could not demand that she be allowed to speak but the committee could easily have granted her request to do so. I think their unwillingness to even listen to her speaks volumes about their attitude.
-- Kirk
P.S. Please share if you feel so inclined. If enough people take an interest, it may help Ms. Ogata and others in their efforts to push the pendulum back in a more humane direction.
2018年3月9日熊本市議会議会運営委員会で、自民党熊本市議団提出の議会会議規則改正案ならびに議会運営に関する申し合わせ改正案について、各会派からの意見を聞くところ。市民連合の西岡誠也委員、公明党の浜田大介委...

From the Hope This Doesn't Happen Soon at Aso Desk: Volcanic lightning is the production of lightning in a volcanic plume. Electrical charges are generated when rock fragments and ash in a volcanic plume collide and produce static charges. Unlike regular thunderstorms, though, this type of lightning doesn’t descend from storm clouds to the ground; instead, it remains within the plume (first photo) or sometimes follows the plume up from the crater (second - kinda like upside-down lightning). Little is known about this phenomenon as, obviously, up-close study is a tad difficult. Both of these photos are from the recent Shinmoedake eruption (130km south of Kumamoto on the Kagoshima/Miyazaki border). - William

Funky Friday places time with Joe Tomei. This is another new place, Suplica, that is sort of behind the Aeon (formerly Daiei) at Kuhonji Kosaten. The business card gives the map. The owner purchases goods from around SE Asia, a business model that I've seen in other places. Their website is asiakirakira.com
Also made a map for these places that you can find at
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing
If you have any suggestions for Funky Friday places (or if you find that one of the places has moved or gone out of business) please let me know thru Kumamoto-i.

The Kumamoto International entomology desk is normally run by William, but seeing this NPR (National Public Radio, a U.S. network) news story prompted me to take a stab at running entomology desk for the day.
I had never hear of a "brown marmorated stink bug" before but the word "stink" made me think of a critter I know from my experience in Japan. When I looked up the scientific name (halyomorpha halys) with some Japanese words (虫, の etc.) I found that, sure enough, the stinky bug I have encountered here seems to be the invasive species identified in the NPR segment. The Japanese name is "kusagi kamemushi." It's usually written in katakana but the kanji are 臭木椿象 -- yup, "stink" is in the Japanese name for this bug too.
It won't kill you but I'd advise you not pick it up. ;)
-- Kirk
A Look At Just How Invasive The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Is
The brown marmorated stink bug first showed up in the United States about 20 years ago, and has been terrorizing homeowners and farmers ever since. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Kathryn Schulz, who writes about the invasive insect in the latest issue of The New Yorker.

Joe Tomei here, Just picked up this notice for a "recycle park market" in Shirakawa Park on 22 April (29 April in case of rain). I put this up early in case anyone wants to have a booth (1000 yen for a 2x3 m space). There are more details at their website at https://rpmkumamoto.wixsite.com/rpmkumamoto and perhaps some folks can chime in if they have done this before.

Do you know that もも (Momo = Peach) Flowers and うめ (Ume = Plum blossoms) look so similar that I actually can't tell their difference?
--- Please feel free to give further information about these two flowers at the comments below
My Friend, Sue, just visited Taniosakibairin Park, and she posted beautiful pictures of Plum blossoms trees.
I am not sure if the actual bloom is exactly as what the picture shows now, and I wish the weather will be bright and sunny this week, so we can enjoy this beautiful scenery in the park.
The address is in the website.
https://kumamoto-guide.jp/spots/detail/48
Have a good trip visiting the park 😊🙏
-Olivia-

My wife taught me an idiom that I thought germane to this season and that some of you might like: konomedoki「木の芽時、コノメドキ」。Its literal meaning is the March/April period when trees are budding but more generally refers to this time of widely fluctuating weather patterns. As such, it also refers to a period psychological instability. (Hello! I'm 52!) Take care during this season. - William

Insect sounds are something I associate with autumn, but the sounds from my veranda tonight made me think of crickets - a sonification quite out of season and so of a species unaccustomed to me. Below is a link to a delightful site which both introduces insects and contains sound links to give you an idea what you're hearing. - William http://nakumushi.justhpbs.jp/sub2.html

Shizo Kanakuri (金栗 四三, 1891 – 1983; he died at the age of 92 in his hometown of Tamana) was a Kumamoto legend and the subject of an upcoming NHK drama. He became known as the "father of marathon" in Japan. Kanakuri was one of the only two athletes that Japan could afford to send to the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The unusually balmy weather at the time disoriented most of the competitors, including, Kanakuri, who lost consciousness during the race and was cared for by a local farming family. Embarrassed by his inability to finish, he slunk back to Japan so secretly that he was actually listed as a missing person in Sweden for fifty years.
Perhaps the Swedes had not been reading their newspapers closely (to be fair, his name in Swedish apparently translates as "Kin Kastanjer Fyra", the kind of name easy to overlook), Kanakuri was chosen to participate in the 1916 Summer Olympics (which were cancelled due to World War I), the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium, where he finished the marathon race in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 45.4 seconds and placed 16th, and the 1924 Summer Olympics, where he failed to finish the race. Kanakuri is also known for his role in establishing the Hakone Ekiden relay marathon in 1920.
In 1967, though, a local TV studio discovered that he continued to exist in Japan. The television studio offered the opportunity to complete his run, which he did, setting a record for the longest marathon time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds. He remarked, "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren."
The reason I'm mentioning this is that NHK has chosen Kanakuri as the subject of their morning drama for 2018 (one may not overestimate the importance of the NHK morning drama), and a call has been sent out for extras. Applications are being accepted through March 29, and filming will be conducted in Kumamoto over two days, May 5 and 6. Details for application are available at this Kumanichi link, but the phone number is ＴＥＬ０９６８（５７）７５４８. - William
金栗四三・大河ドラマのエキストラ募集　玉名市 - 熊本日日新聞
　玉名市は２日、日本人初の五輪選手で名誉市民の金栗四三を描く来年のＮＨＫ大河ドラマ「いだてん～東京オリムピック噺［ばなし］～」に出演する市民エキストラの募集を始めた。市外からも応募でき、２９日まで。５...

Cooking is fun. It is not only fun for adults but for kids! The ability to change raw ingredients into a culinary dish is the hallmark of humanity.
Language is fun. It is fun not only for adults but for kids! The ability to change the raw ingredients of reality into words people can understand is the hallmark of humanity.
Sean brings both together with his cooking classes. By incidental discussion of culinary course, both adults and children learn to communicate and to create great food.
The next chance for this is Sunday, 3/4. Mushrooms are on the menu! If you know anyone who might have an interest, please let them know! The link is below. - William
https://www.facebook.com/cookandchatEnglish/

Joe Tomei here with Funky places Friday. This place is hot off the press. There was a kebab shop on Densha dori, Doi Kebab that I went to a few times and liked, but because there was no parking, was a bit difficult. Then, it seemed to be shuttered. Walking downtown the other day, I noticed that it was now located by the Shiyakusho. Made the trip down, and it was closed, but the owner had moved the shop to Shimotori and renamed it and we were just in time for the reopening!
The new shop is called Cave and is next to the Core 21 pachinko parlor. I'm not sure if this is standard pricing or an opening special, but we had a pita kebab, soup and a drink for 500 yen.
Unfortunately, the kebabs were chicken, they don't have that lambmeat kebab, but they do have the vertical rotisserie and a sauce range from mild yoghurt to omg that's hot. It is also open until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays and 1 am on weeknights, so if a post prandial ramen doesn't cut it, you may want to try this.

(Edited)
I spotted two plum blossoms trees in the neighbourhood these few days.
One thing I realised, these flowers could withstand the rain that showered us yesterday.
---> Thank you for the responses in the comments, please read the comments, all 😃
There is Ume Matsuri at Nankan, Tamana
(thank you Joseph Fowler)
Together with Pottery exhibition if you have the chance visiting the area this weekend.
You can read more at the link below :
http://www.town.nankan.lg.jp/page1111.html?type=TOP
(site is in Japanese)
The event is on March 3-4, this weekend.
It is from 10-4pm.
For enquiries regarding this event:
経済課　商工観光係
〒861-0898
熊本県玉名郡南関町関町1316
電話：0968-57-8504
Other than this spot,
Please feel free to share your other favourite spots in the comments below,
-Olivia-

From the Kumamoto International Botany Desk (merged with the Things Unlikely to be Food but Are Desk due to overlap): Petasites japonicus (in Japanese, fuki - as is common with botany, choose your kanji: 蕗、苳、款冬、菜蕗) is a ground-covering plant with an extensive root system which emits buds at about this time of year. The plant has evolved such that the buds, known as "fukinotou," are highly astringent (bitter) to prevent them from being eaten, but the plant during its evolution had apparently never considered the Japanese housewife.
Soaked in water for a day and then tempurad the hell out of, the result is a pleasingly, mildly bitter taste that goes well accompanied by grated daikon, salt, or tenyuu (天ゆう, a type of sauce often used with tempura).
Below is a photo of a plate my wife recently tempurad the hell out of, a photo of a bud, and a link to a Wikipedia page. Look around your neighborhood and you can probably find them. Then all you need is a Japanese wife. - William
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%AD

No one knows whether or how life might survive on Saturn's ice moon Enceladus, but recent research has proposed an organism that theoretically could - a single-celled organism known as Methanothermococcus okinawensis that lives in hydrothermal vents in the Nankai Trough off of Kyushu. The species manages to survive its anaerobic environment by converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide to methane, and then - いただきます！
This is further evidence that the first extraterrestrial life found will resemble Kumamon. - William
How life on Earth might survive on Saturn's ice moon Enceladus
Certain microbes can grow and produce methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas under conditions extrapolated for Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn.

Good news! Beginning tomorrow (the 28th) tourist will be able to view the Mt. Aso crater for the first time since the 2016 eruption.
-- Kirk
P.S. Commemorative towels (see image I post in a comment) will be given out to the first 200 visitors.
阿蘇山火口　３年半ぶり見学再開　28日から
　阿蘇山の周囲の自治体や警察、消防で組織する阿蘇火山防災会議協議会（事務局・熊本県阿蘇市）は26日、阿蘇山中岳の火口への立ち入り規制を28日に３年半ぶりに解除すると発表した。火山活動の活発化によって2

Just wanted to give everyone a head’s up about this, sorry it’s so late!! Megan here!
Until the 28th, you can see the new しゃちほこ 鯱 that will be placed on the roof of Kumamoto Castle (maybe in March or April, my friend wasn’t sure). The roof is almost finished and they’re planning on removing the white cap and displaying the complete roof, adorned with the shachihoko for all to see.
It is 300円 to enter WakuWakuZa but it was worth the price! You can even touch the new shachihoko and take a picture with them. So if you’re not busy on Tuesday or Wednesday, you should head over. It was interesting to see them and get a better understanding of the damage the castle sustained. It was a very informative trip!
For those interested, shachihoko are from Japanese folklore. They are mythical fish that have the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. It was believed that shachihoko could cause the rain to fall, so castles and temples often used them to protect against fire.
Also, fun fact: There were two new pairs of shachihoko crafted for the castle: a larger pair for the greater keep (119 cm tall and 100 kg) and bit smaller pair for the lesser keep (86 cm tall and 70 kg). They were crafted by Kosuke Fujimoto, whose father crafted the previous shachihoko which were completed in 2008.

I'm reposting this to let people know that I've added the following postscript:
-- start quote --
The following Facebook page by Koich Futami
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1443273759133837
is requesting that interested persons send any opinions they may have about this issue to the city government at
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 096-324-3284
Mr. Futami's post is in Japanese but I think we can expect the city to be able to handle opinions expressed in English and other languages.
-- end quote --
Sharing, particularly with journalists and other interested persons, is more than welcome.
-- Kirk
「諦めたり悲観したりはしていません。進化のための一段階なんだと思っています」

Again, old picture, new news.
The Kumamoto City Assembly has decided to respond to the issues raised by Ms. Ogata by doubling down. Instead of moving to accommodate women (or fathers) with young children, they have decided to tighten their rules to make it even harder for women like Ms. Ogata to be good parents while simultaneously representing their constituents. I'm not aware of an English article about the recent developments so I'll translate a few key changes in the rules. All of the following are either new rules or changes to existing rules:
1. Those who may attend city council meetings are (a) representatives, (b) persons recognized by the chair in accord with the Local Government Act (in other words, designated city clerical workers, etc.), and (c) other persons deemed necessary by the chair.（[1] 議員 [2] 地方自治法の規定により議長から出席を求められた者 [3] 議長が特に必要と認める者－とした。）
This basically says "no babies" but perhaps the third clause can be used to make an exception if the chair sees fit -- but I wouldn't hold my breath.
2. Representatives must wear formal attire. （「議員の服装は正装にする」）
Whether intentional or not, this is likely to have the effect of making breastfeeding (even outside of the council chambers on breaks) more difficult.
3. Only the representative may participate in official tours and inspections. However, if the representative requires assistance in order to participate in such tours and inspections, a caregiver may be allowed to accompany the representative. （「行政視察は議員本人以外の者の参加は認めない。ただし、委員等本人が公務を遂行するに当たり、視察先や宿泊先等で介助が必要と想定される場合は、介助者を認める」）
In other words, representatives can get help (say, if they need someone to push their wheelchair, etc.) but they cannot have a little one with them during the tour. Ms. Ogata was allowed to take her child with her on such a tour in the past so this rule basically means "no more of that."
It seems the conservative politicians in Kumamoto are responding to their ultraconservative base. There's plenty of bad-mouthing of Ms. Ogata on the internet, so some people will surely be pleased by this new hard line. Then again, this won't look good in the history books. I think it will become painfully clear in retrospect that this was a step in the wrong direction. And, of course, it won't do anything good for Kumamoto's international reputation, either.
-- Kirk
P.S. The following Facebook page by Koichi Futami
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1443273759133837
is requesting that interested persons send any opinions they may have about this issue to the city government at
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 096-324-3284
Mr. Futami's post is in Japanese but I think we can expect the city to be able to handle opinions expressed in English.
http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2018/02/22/kumamotoassembry_a_23368102/
「諦めたり悲観したりはしていません。進化のための一段階なんだと思っています」

Here's something about an event in Missoula, Montana. I know that most readers of this page are not in Montana and therefore can't attend this event but I thought I'd share it as a sign of the continuing relationship between Kumamoto and its sister state in the U.S.
-- Kirk
"On Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m., please join us in the library meeting room for a presentation by former KPAX reporter Ian Marquand. For 35 years, Montana has enjoyed a "sister state" relationship with the prefecture of Kumamoto, Japan. Few Montanans know Kumamoto as well as award-winning journalist and Japan Friendship Club President Ian Marquand. Join Ian as he shares the special character of Kumamoto--its connection with former Ambassador Mike Mansfield, its natural beauty, its cultural heritage and its charming modern mascot, Kumamon. He'll also celebrate the unique friendship Kumamoto offers to Montanans."
View from the Library
POLSON — Happy “Library Lovers Month!” To celebrate this and “I Love to Read Month” we are offering a selection of children’s’ books to be adopted by you. A $15 donation to the library purchases a book for our collection. A special plaque will be placed in the book acknowledging its ad...

Joe Tomei here with the start of an ongoing (I hope) feature that I will call Funky place Friday. Each Friday, I'll try to introduce a place, which might be a shop, a restaurant, or something that I've come across while walking. We'll start in the city and environs, but anywhere in Kumamoto is fair game, if I can get out there. Bearing in mind that one person's funky is another's futsuu, here goes.
The first place is a little store behind the Crowne Plaza ANA New Sky hotel, towards Kumamoto station, halfway between the densha stops Gofukumachi and Gionbashi. It has tenugui, zori, men's kaku obi and some obi that were not as wide that I had never seen before as well as other items with Japanese printed designs.
I've dropped a pin on the Second Hand Kimono map, which you can see at
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yZ6nxp5RJ9WhhUpz69JbFGTEaqwdu0Uc&usp=sharing
If you have a suggestion for a place to add for the Funky place Friday series, please put something in the comments or drop me an email at tomeiter at gmail.